Hebrews 8:1-13 (01/29/2024)
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1 Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer. 4 For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; 5 who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” 6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 8 Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 11 None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” 13 In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
v. i-ii
v. i-ii
1 Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.
Here, the author gives us a summary of what we have seen so far: “We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.” I think here is where we see how intentional the author is in his writing, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and it makes me lean towards the idea that this was a written sermon or homily. This is because right at the beginning of this writing, he appeals to this characteristic of the High Priest: (say Hebrews 1:1-4, emphasizing the section regarding purging our sins and sitting at the Majesty) We don’t just have a High Priest, we have an exalted High Priest. It is also said that He is “a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle...” He assumes this priesthood; not just as a symbolic or ceremonial role, but as a true Priest (as one in the order of Melchizedek). It is said that Christ serves in the true tabernacle, but not a man-made one; “the true tabernacle which the Lord erected”. God has established this tabernacle, this place of service, and this is what makes it true. It is said in Psalms 127 that “unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it”, and even a temple is worthless if God does not make his habitation therein. Something else interesting in this section is seen at the beginning of the verse: “[T]his is the main point of the things we are saying:” This isn’t just a random teaching; this is a testable teaching of the apostles; such that one who lived at the time of writing could corroborate this text with other teachings of the time period. The Bible is consistent, which is one of the many reasons why we should depend on it with our lives. Like 2 Timothy 3:15 says, the Scriptures are able to make us “wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus”.
v. iii-vi
v. iii-vi
3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer. 4 For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; 5 who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” 6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.
Here, as is customary for this epistle, the Capital-H High Capital-P Priest is compared to high priests. Like we discussed in chapter 7, high priests have to offer material things, but the High Priest also needs something to offer for the sins of the people. This is a very straightforward section; the author elaborates in v. iv-vi. “For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest...” What does this mean? I honestly had to look in different versions for this, and Heb 8:4 in RVR1960 helped me understand it, and I’ll translate what it’s saying into English:
4 Así que, si estuviese sobre la tierra, ni siquiera sería sacerdote, habiendo aún sacerdotes que presentan las ofrendas según la ley;
Basically, “if Jesus was only limited to earth, His priesthood would be unnecessary because other priests could offer up sacrifices.”
In v. v, he explains that the service of the Levitical priests were only a picture of the Priesthood to come, the Heavenly Priesthood. The perfect instructions that Moses had to follow were only a picture of the perfection to come.
Jesus has obtained a more excellent ministry, just as He obtained a more excellent name than the angels (Heb 1:4). His more excellent name comes from the greater covenant that we spoke about on Friday in Hebrews 7.
v. vii-xiii
v. vii-xiii
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 8 Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 11 None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” 13 In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
We continue to review the fact that the first covenant was limited so that the second covenant would be even more perfected. Jeremiah 31:31-34 is quoted to drive this point forward using Scripture to show that this was already in God’s plan.
31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
Here, God shows Israel the problems with the first covenant, i.e., a problem with them. This is a future covenant (“the days are coming”) after the problems of the Old Covenant:
Israel did not continue in it. Like it said in Hebrews 3, “They always go astray in their hearts.” For this reason, they could not enter God’s rest.
The laws were not in their minds, nor written in their hearts. Proverbs advises us to write wisdom in our hearts, and Psalms 119:11 says that we keep God’s Word in our hearts so that we do not sin against Him.
Israel had not wanted God as their God, and they did not want to be His people. God calls us towards Him, but we often reject that love to remain in the chains of sin.
They did not know God. We can know about God, but it’s a whole other thing to know God. It’s not about information, it’s about living in His light.
Finally, verse 13 states that “In that He says, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” This is again, reviewing the point that the first covenant is dying and unnecessary, but making space for the second covenant, the new and greater one. I think this is especially important to remember in the historical context of the epistle to the Hebrews. If you’ll remember, the reason for the author’s writing is so that the Hebrews do not bend to the persecution, which had caused many of the Hebrews to return to their old system of offering temple sacrifices rather than depending on Christ’s new covenant and sacrifice that covered all the sins of the people that these old sacrifices could not. The Hebrews had no other choice but to enter the new covenant; once the new covenant came in, the old covenant no longer worked. Like we saw in Jeremiah, it was only intended for a short time. But this new covenant lasts forever and covers all sins, so under that new covenant, let’s approach God in prayer.